Buffy: The Vampire Slayer RPG: A Review
Between last night and this morning, I've read most of the book and here are a few thoughts.

I had played it last year at U-Con and was prety impressed with it at the time. After reading the book, I am even more impressed. I'm a tinkerer. When I read a rules system, I usually immediately see things that need changed. Amazingly there is nothing I see that I need to change and will be running the game exactly as it is in the book, something I haven't done....since.....I can't remember the last time. I guess it was probably Cyberpunk 2020 back in 1993.

Axctually this game has a few things in common with R. Talsorian's Cyberpunk system. It uses 1d10 added to an attribute and a skill to determine success. It's a simple system that is easy to teach or learn.

Where it shines is that, unlike Cyberpunk or most simple systems, the game offers a lot of flexibility and a highly cinematic combat system. The system is called the Unisystem. It is also used in the zombie-survival roleplaying game All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Angel and a few other RPGs from Eden studios. (including an upcoming Evil Dead RPG! Dead by dawn! Dead by dawn! errr..... I digress....) Character creation reminds me a lot of GURPS, but it is faster and easier to use. Like GURPS, there are tons of options. Your character buys advantages and disadvantages (this time called Qualities and Drawbacks), attributes and skills and there are plenty of Qualities and Drawbacks to choose from. Unlike GURPS, Buffy character creation takes little time since there are less skills to choose from (all skills having been distilled to their basic forms) and no mathematical equations.

The highlight of the system is their Drama Point system, I think. Some of you may know that I've developed for The Dreaming City where players get Drama Points to allow them to do really cool things. Well, I've seen similiar systems in several games. Masterbook had a great system that used cards. However, I think this system has one of the most balanced I've seen and has the excellent idea of giving more Drama Points to the lower powered "scoobies" (like Xander).

I'm looking forward to running this game.